The Tampa Tribune -- SPRING HILL - She felt it when she first met him.

Nicole Coleman wanted to know about the shaggy-haired boy who was sitting on her friend's sofa. They started dating not long after their first encounter four years ago.

They had been married for two years and he still had that heart-melting effect on her.

"He was a devoted husband," she said with a soft, quivering voice. "I'd say if we had kids, he would've made a great father."

Her husband, U.S. Army Spc. Justin Coleman of Hernando Beach, was killed Friday fighting in Afghanistan. He was 21.

Nicole Coleman was told the news Friday — the day after her birthday. Her husband was expected to return home for leave during the next few weeks.

His birthday was Aug. 31. He and his wife had planned on a joint celebration.

The soldier's affection for his wife did not go unnoticed by her mother, Rosellen Jenkins. Jenkins described Coleman as a "smart kid."

"He was really respectful and has always been great," she said of her son-in-law.

Nicole Coleman had received several calls during the past few days and had several visitors offering condolences.

"It's appreciated," she said of the support she has received from friends and acquaintances. "It's something I will never get used to."

An Associated Press photograph shows Coleman's remains arriving at Dover Air Force base in Delaware and cites the Department of Defense to identify Coleman. The Department of Defense confirmed the death Tuesday.

On its Web site, the department stated Coleman "died July 24 in Nuristan Province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit using small arms and rocket-propelled grenade fires."

Nicole Coleman and her father-in-law went to Dover this weekend for the remains and returned home Monday evening.

Jenkins said the couple were longtime friends and very close. When Coleman deployed in January, his wife sent care packages to him, including camouflage Easter eggs.

Coleman enlisted right after graduating from Nature Coast Technical High School in 2007 and seemed intent on making a career of the military.

His wife said his Army recruiter was among the small list of guests at their wedding.

"I really didn't want to believe it," she said when she received a call from her mother Friday informing her there were men in uniform at the house.

Nicole Coleman was celebrating her birthday at her friend's house. She asked her mother to put one of the men, a sergeant, on the phone. He insisted on telling her the news in person and asked her to come to the house.

"I thought, 'There has to be some sort of confusion,'" she said. "I still don't want to believe it."

The two had made plans to raise a family together.

Services will be arranged through Downing Funeral Home. A viewing is scheduled from 2 to 8 p.m. Sunday.

A funeral with full military honors will take place at 10 a.m. at the Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell. A reception will follow at the VFW in Hernando Beach.

Coleman said her husband often seemed sure of himself while they were together, but they also had tender moments during which he would act shyly around her.

Their friends noticed the connection, even before they started dating.

"All of them said they knew something was going on with the way we'd flirt with each other," she said.

Coleman recalled a time when she found out he wrote a blog on his MySpace page that explained his feelings for her. He wrote it before they began dating. He was too shy to read it to her, she said.